IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (ComputerWorld) 10/04/2009

Microsoft's 'Apple Tax' claims are 'stupid,' counters analyst
Analyst Ezra Gottheil is very critical of Microsoft's claim that buyers pay a $3,400 "Apple Tax" when they buy Apple Macintoshes rather than Windows-based PCs.

Microsoft downsizes Live Labs, asks researchers to do more product work
Microsoft is reassigning about half of the researchers in its Internet-focused Live Labs research unit to product groups, hoping the move will result in more software that actually ships.

After a year of bad blood, Microsoft, Yahoo talking again
Microsoft and Yahoo have started talking again, this time about possible search and advertising partnerships, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Where did Sun go wrong?
Just before the dot-com boom that spawned the meteoric rise of Sun Microsystems came careening to a halt, then-CEO Scott McNealy and President Ed Zander held a meeting where they discussed the future of their company.

Time Warner changes, but keeps, bandwidth caps
Time Warner Cable decided it wanted to try out bandwidth capping, but after intense backlash from customers, the company has backed off its original plans.

Windows Doesn't See My Optical Drive
Windows stopped recognizing Notpcliterate's CD/DVD drive. The Answer Line forum came to the rescue.

Microsoft to update Office 2007 this month
Microsoft is planning to start pushing out Office 2007 Service Pack 2 to customers this month.

The Macalope Weekly: The ruination of X as we know it
Everything's going to heck in a handbasket! Giant hyperboles are walking the streets, stomping on hardworking developers, consumers, and our cherished way of life! Only by returning to core values can we survive as a Macintosh community!

Obama touts plan for lifetime military e-health records
The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are jointly working on a new electronic medical records system that will seamlessly share administrative and health information on military personnel from the time they enter service to retirement.

Checking disk space

If your boss shows up at your desk asking if you are going to need to buy more or bigger disks for your servers, you need a quick estimate of how much disk space your servers have and how much of it is in use. Here's a quick script that will provide that information.

4 BlackBerry Tips Every Manager Should Know

At my company, we get hundreds of BlackBerry calls a week, and most aren't from the guy who just dropped his device in a bowl of Wonton soup. Rather, it's the managers on their way to meetings or hopping on flights who want to know the handy tricks and tips that will save them time and make their smart phones smarter.

Microsoft on Windows 7: They did it right this time

When it comes time to Monday morning quarterback Microsoft's work on Windows Vista, it's evident where the company made mistakes along the way. From overpromising and underdelivering to scrapping the code to being late to relatively poor betas, Windows Vista's development cycle was less than ideal. With Windows 7, Microsoft appears to have learned its lesson and, this time, they got it right.

The top 10 operating system stinkers

Enough of the good old days! Let's talk about the bad old days of OSs instead.

Windows XP support ends next week; Windows 7 to allow downgrade to Windows XP; what?

Mainstream support for Windows XP ends next week. At the same time, Microsoft has announced that it will provide downgrade rights from Windows 7 to both Windows XP and Windows Vista. So you get to choose between sticking with Windows 7, running the lambasted Windows Vista, or downgrading to an unsupported OS. Read on.

Conficker Awakens, Starts Scamming

The Conficker worm is back in action and stumping security experts once again. One of the most craftily designed pieces of malware recently got an update and is finally starting to behave like other worms. Here's what's going on:

China denies cyberattacks on U.S. power grid

Malware attacks from China and Russia designed to shut down the U.S. electrical grid did not occur, China said Thursday.

AT&T says vandalism to blame for California service outage

AT&T says that the service outages that hit California Thursday resulted from an apparent act of vandalism.

Conficker cashes in, installs spam bots and scareware

The makers of Conficker, the worm that has infected millions of PCs, have begun to do what all botnet owners do -- make money -- security researchers said Thursday as they started analyzing the malware's newest variant.

After attacks, Excel update due from Microsoft

Microsoft will release eight security updates next week, including one for Excel, while Oracle is readying patches, too.

Small businesses aware of security risks, but not doing all they can to protect information

Interesting findings in a new Symantec survey of 1,425 small and medium businesses. Small and medium-sized businesses understand security risks, but a high percentage have failed to enact basic safeguards. Here are the findings.

Conficker, the Internet's No. 1 threat, gets an update

Conficker worm uses P-to-P for new instructions.

Researcher: Power grid hackers likely got inside by attacking PCs

The hackers who reportedly planted malware on key parts of the U.S. electrical grid, perhaps with the intent to cripple the country's power infrastructure, most likely gained access like any other cybercriminal -- by exploiting a bug in software such as Windows or Office, a security researcher said.

Microsoft patch rate surged in second half of 2008

Microsoft was forced to pick up the patching pace in the second half of 2008, fixing 67% more flaws and released 17% more security updates in the period than it had in the first six months of the year.

CEO explains Symantec's plan to survive recession

Enrique Salem, who this week took the reigns of Symantec, discusses his vision for Symantec, what IT security threats may lie ahead and how the recession is affecting the high tech industry.

Microsoft looks parallel with new hire, analysts say

Microsoft's hiring of a chip designer Marc Tremblay from Sun could be part of a larger push by Microsoft into parallel computing.

Microsoft eating up U.S. and global netbook markets

Microsoft's chest thumping last week over its 96% share of the U.S. netbook market for February doesn't appear to be just its normal bravado as the company also is charging toward dominance on a global front.

Netbooks and Linux: A Complicated Story

Up until now it's been believed that the emerging netbook market has been sewn-up almost entirely by various varieties of Linux. However, it seems the truth is that Linux netbooks see far more returns than their Windows equivalents, and--according to research firm NPD--about 96% of netbooks sold recently ran Windows.

Report: Microsoft relaxes Windows downgrade rules

Microsoft Corp. has relaxed its "downgrade" rules and will let computer makers continue to sell PCs preinstalled with the aged Windows XP for as long as six months after it launches Windows 7, according to a report published Wednesday.

Open Vista's Task Manager Directly

Remember the good old XP days, when tapping Ctrl-Alt-Del immediately brought up the Windows Task Manager? Sure it's only an extra mouse click away in Vista, but I miss having direct access to Task Manager. Fortunately, there's a hotkey shortcut that takes you straight to TM.

Time Warner Changes -- But Keeps -- Bandwidth Caps

Time Warner Cable decided it wanted to play with bandwidth capping, but after intense backlash from customers, the company has backed off its original plans ... slightly.

Apple begins countdown to 1 billion iPhone apps downloaded

The countdown has begun. Apple posted a Web page on Friday counting down (or actually counting up) to the one billion app downloaded milestone on the App Store.

Fiber cuts slash Silicon Valley's Internet arteries

Cuts in fiber-optic lines early Thursday near Silicon Valley shut down two IBM facilities and affected the organization in charge of Internet domain names.

Friday, April 10, 2009

IT News HeadLines (ComputerWorld) 10/04/2009

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